commentary

A widow with four children wants her will to divide the family house fairly. One daughter has lived with her and cared for her for years. Is fair the same as equal?

A stepfather in Birmingham explains why he added his wife’s name to the house he bought before they married, what friends warned him about and what it changed at home.

A young man in Westmoreland has been offered part of his late grandmother’s land by a cousin, cheaply and for cash. There is no survey and no title. What should he do before paying?

A reader shares a family property title with three siblings but has paid the property tax, insurance and repairs alone for years. Our response looks at fair, practical ways forward.

A reader in St Mary argues that untitled family land, and the silence around it, is quietly holding whole families back, and admits his own part in letting it drift.

A reader’s close friend and neighbour has built a boundary wall that seems to cross onto his family’s lot. Our response on checking the facts, speaking gently, and settling it properly.

A seventeen-year-old with savings from a weekend job asks whether to buy a car now or start saving for land, and our response sets out the questions worth asking first.

A reader in Kingston has inherited a run-down country house from her aunt and cannot decide whether to renovate, rent or sell. Our response lays out the questions to settle first.

A husband who bought land on his own before marriage describes the uncomfortable conversation about ownership that came years after he and his wife built a home on it together.

A newly married reader’s husband wants to build on his mother’s land for free; she wants a lot of their own. Our response on leaving and cleaving, ownership, and deciding together.

A sister is caught between a brother who cared for their mother and still lives rent-free in her house, and siblings abroad who want it sold. What is fair to everyone?

A reader remarrying later in life wants to buy a home with her husband but fears one set of children could be left out. Our response sets out the questions to settle before the deed is signed.

Elderly parents plan to transfer the family home to the eldest son while they are still alive, and his siblings are divided. Our response sets out what to weigh and who should advise.